Manufacture of steel



i UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

ALI BERT'H. HENDERSON, OF TOWSON, MARYLAND.

' MANUFACTURE OF STEEL.

No Drawing.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT H. HENDER- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at .Towson in the county of Baltimore an State of Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements inthe Manufacture of Steel, of which the following is a specification. 7

This invention, which hasreference to a 10 process of refining and cleansing and improving the quality of steel, in no wise interferes with any regular and approved form- .ulee employed in the manufacture of steel,- and may be used in connection with known modes of making it from pig and other -metal, as by the basic open-hearth, the acid open hearth, or the Bessemer process, or.

by what is known as the duplex or the triplex methods involving joint uses of such an modes.

The main or characteristic features of the present invention relate, first, to the produc tion of a molten metal cleansed and purified from deleterious matter such as phosphorous, sulfur, etc., the gases from such 'substances being liberated and allowed to escape; and, secondly, to a treatment in a ladle or the like of a selected body of such cleansed, purified and molten metal, whether Bulproduced under either of the methods or r. combined methods herein alluded to, whereby are effected certain elemental changes in the metal drawn to the ladle, adapting the metal poured therefrom for the molding of ingots or other castings free from piping,

blow holes and the like, and having great tenacity, bending qualities, and ultimate strength, fittin it for forging, rolling, inachining,"'etc." he steel produced under my 40 invention is well qualified for resistance to severe strains and shocks, as in the impact OfipITOjGCtllGS, or under conditions to which railroad rails are exposed. a

My invention, broadly considered, conslsts,

first, in a treatment of the char e at any appropriate time previous to or after it has reached the molten state, and before the tapping, for purifying it from deleterious matter, and, secondly, a treatment of the molten metal, after the tapping, whereby it is given certain elemental changes adapting the metal for the act ofmolding.

Certain features of the present invention are described in my copending application .551 Serial No. 256,591,'fi1ed October 2, 1918, and in my allowed application Serial No.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented M y 24 1921 Application filed July 9, 1919. Serial No. 309,656.

. The purpose of the present invention is to retain only borax to the exclusion of other substances enumerated in said applications for cleansing the metal from oxidation, or removing other injurious characteristics,

whereby to lessen the cost of treatment and 1 at the same time effect beneficial results/in the'product previous to the pouring thereof to the ladle in which the final step of my invention is carried out.

- Referring first to the treatment of the charge, which may be effected at any appropriate selected time as above mentioned,

\ and under either a single or a complex system, I add to each ton of metal about four pounds of anhydrous borax, more or less,

for the purpose of cleansing and refining the same. This amount of borax is deemed to be about the minimum needed for one ton of metal of high or even average grade; but for lower grades the amount of bof'ax per ton of metal will be varied within limits defined by the quality of the charge.

The anhydrous borax in thequantity or quantities desired may be packed in a readily combustible envelop or series of envelops or containers each consisting. of a pasteboard I holderplaced in a box of extra dry wood free from. rosins or other substances, and lined with heavy paper, However, the borax need not be so or otherwise inclosed, and whether or not packed when thrown at any suitable time into the metalwill readily liberate itself into the body thereof. The properties'of anhydrous borax as a cleanser and purifier of metal, as a cleanser or remover of oxidation and rust from steel and iron, and for brightening metal are well lmown. I have found that it is also useful in suppressing the gases in the furnace and consequently preventing blow holes.

The desired furnace treatment having been effected, either by the single, duplex or com plex system, that is to say, the fusing having been accomplished, I now pour the molten metal, .elementally changed by the initial is therein add thereto the required proportion of lead, preferably in ingots, say about six pounds, more or less, together with about one or two pounds, of zinc, to one ton of metal. The zinc, however, may be omitted and the lead used alone. The proportions of each of the various ingredients employed may be varied in view of the diversified classes of iron, as pig, scrap, steel and iron castings, etc., constituting the charge, my process allowing the use of any'kind of metal ordilnarily used in the conversion of iron into stee I The successful results seem to arise from the introduction of the lead or the lead and zinc to the ladle before or after the filling or partial filling thereof, or at any time before the metal is poured from the ladle into the mold. It is found that but little if any slag remains in the bottom of the ladle after the pouring into the ingot mold or the casting pattern. The results of these operations are the production of an ingot with greatly reduced cavities, recesses or piping at its head.

, claim of metal, and thereafter adding to a selected body ofsuch fused metal while in a ladle about six pounds of lead to one ton of metal.

3. In the production of steel for molding into ingots or castings, adding to the charge during the fusing anhydrous borax in the proportion of about four pounds to each ton of metal, and thereafter adding to such fused body while in a ladle about six pounds of lead together with approximately one to two pounds of zinc to one ton of metal. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ALBERT H. HENDERSON. 

